A good example

In this example we have used the made up company Meat and Game Ltd to show how to number items with variable weight.

Meat and Game sell among other things sliced steak, minute steak, and whole roast beef. Meat and Game has ordered a subscription for a GS1 Variable Weight Prefix and have been allocated the prefix 2X8806. They have also subscribed to a GS1 Company Prefix and been allocated the prefix 735005385.

Consumer units

Meat and Game use their GS1 Variable Weight Prefix (2X8806) to number consumer units with a variable weight number. To have a good overview in their item database they choose to sequentially number the items, i.e. "... 01", "... 02", and so on. This makes it easy to see which numbers are in use and which are available. They choose to state the weight in kilograms with three decimals in the item number and they mark each consumer unit individually depending on how much it weighs.

Variable weight number for a package of sliced steak weighing 0,348 kg: 2388060103489

Variable weight number for a package of minute steak weighing 0,297 kg: 2388060202977

Variable weight number for a package of roast beef weighing 1,085 kg: 2388060310856

When they store the variable weight numbers in their item database, Meat and Game replaces the four digits showing the weight in kilograms with four zeroes and calculates the new check digit. The complete 14 digit GTIN is stored in the database. So the item number for sliced steak is 02388060100006.

Cases

Meat and Game use their GS1 Company Prefix (735005385) to number cases with a 14 digit GTIN. Since the cases contain items with variable weight the item number begins with the digit 9.

They choose to also number cases serially in order to have a good overview of the item database. Each case has its article number marked using a GS1-128 barcode.

GTIN for case of sliced steak: 97350053850012

GTIN for case of minute steak: 97350053850029

GTIN for case of roast beef: 97350053850036

Pallets

In order to be able to distinguish in their item database between pallets of sliced steaks and pallets of minute steak, Meat and Game number they are pallets with GTINs. They use their GS1 Company Prefix for this.

GTIN for pallet of sliced steak: 97350053850043

GTIN for pallet of minute steak: 97350053850050

GTIN for pallet of roast beef : 97350053850067

Meat and Game do not need to include the pallet item number in a barcode since the pallets are not orderable. On the other hand, they must label each individual pallet with a GS1 Pallet label.

The pallet label must include the pallet’s SSCC. One pallet is identified with 173500538500052275 and another with 173500538500052282. The pallet label also contains information about the number of cases on the pallet, the case GTIN, the pallets total weight and the batch number and best before date.